Totally agree with Joab on this one. Why tha hell we need to research? They SAID IT , even if it's wrong , it's in them that we'll believe , obviously.

Oh please. There have been notorious errors in this regards. Of course WE never take things at face value, right? That's our job!! And there was some great mileage calculator tool that was brought up a few seasons back when this came up...wish we could find that post, it showed how crazy far off they can be!!

And whether ANY of you agree or disagree please do remember to be POLITE in saying so, okay??

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

For the record, Austria does count. Teams were not only specifically directed to pick up their cars there, but is also listed in Wikipedia for a visit. And the Netherlands and Germany counted in TAR19, so this makes sense.

For the record, Austria does count. Teams were not only specifically directed to pick up their cars there, but is also listed in Wikipedia for a visit. And the Netherlands and Germany counted in TAR19, so this makes sense.

I compared my total countries visited for each season with Phil's total, and he includes USA MOST of the time, but not all. There's only a few discrepancies:

In S3, England and Scotland are counted separately, but that could be counted either way.In S9, Phil says 9 countries, but there are clearly 10 visited, so I can only assume they didn't count the USA this season. Brazil, Russia, Germany, Italy, Greece, Oman, Australia, Thailand, Japan and the USA all have tasks in them.In S15, Phil says 8 countries, but there are 9 visited, so again, the USA isn't counted. Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, UAE, Netherlands, Sweden, Estonia, Czech Republic and USA all have tasks in them.In S20, Phil says 9 countries, which would imply the exclusion of Austria or USA. I'm inclined to agree with Airlinesguy and say that this time, the USA was excluded.

So 2 or 3 times, Phil has excluded the USA, possible in the most recent season. I definitely don't think we can say for sure that the missing leg isn't in a new country.. (My money's on Slovakia!)

I have absolute trust with Phil and his words at the finish line. Who cares about evidence and statistics. They could have included all the layovers, transfers or road travelled distance without YOUR knowledge.

This is a joke right?

I love Phil and WRP too but they are obviously more interested in exaggerating the facts for marketing than actual precision. Phil is probably just reading a script.

Joab, your estimate is not the remotest bit close to the real mileage for AR5. It appears that you are using either a World Race Productions source (notorious for overestimating the mileage of Amazing Races) or some other invalid source. Here are the statistics for each of the legs, using www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/howfar.htm. I am going to approach this by separating out the air miles, which I will show as statute miles at the conversion factor of 1.15 statute miles/air mile, from the fairly small ground transportation segments, which will be in statue miles to start with. One approximation which will tend to understate the air miles is that real trips involve connections at airports not on the line between the origination and destination point. I have used connecting points in only a few instances where I know them.

That gives me a total of 43225 air miles, which is equivalent to 49709 statute miles. Direct statute miles from ground segments total 1924. The total in statute mile equivalents is 51633, more than 20,000 miles short of 72K.

YES, I AM USING A WORLD RACE PRODUCTION SOURCE. CAN'T I?

I have absolute trust with Phil and his words at the finish line. Who cares about evidence and statistics. They could have included all the layovers, transfers or road travelled distance without YOUR knowledge.

Joab, your estimate is not the remotest bit close to the real mileage for AR5. It appears that you are using either a World Race Productions source (notorious for overestimating the mileage of Amazing Races) or some other invalid source. Here are the statistics for each of the legs, using www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/howfar.htm. I am going to approach this by separating out the air miles, which I will show as statute miles at the conversion factor of 1.15 statute miles/air mile, from the fairly small ground transportation segments, which will be in statue miles to start with. One approximation which will tend to understate the air miles is that real trips involve connections at airports not on the line between the origination and destination point. I have used connecting points in only a few instances where I know them.

That gives me a total of 43225 air miles, which is equivalent to 49709 statute miles. Direct statute miles from ground segments total 1924. The total in statute mile equivalents is 51633, more than 20,000 miles short of 72K.

YES, I AM USING A WORLD RACE PRODUCTION SOURCE. CAN'T I?

I have absolute trust with Phil and his words at the finish line. Who cares about evidence and statistics. They could have included all the layovers, transfers or road travelled distance without YOUR knowledge.

It seems weird, but they may not count The USA as visited, only a start and finish.Though they probably should include it in the count as a visit.Do they not count countries if they just pass through? What about airport connections?The number of visited countries could climb.Complicated.Maybe only countries Phil talks count as visited.

It seems weird, but they may not count The USA as visited, only a start and finish.Though they probably should include it in the count as a visit.Do they not count countries if they just pass through? What about airport connections?The number of visited countries could climb.Complicated.Maybe only countries Phil talks count as visited.

Of course that doesn't count ..Not as much, if you study other seasons

SQUEAL! On very few occasions, there is something to like about every single team, and this season they've done it again! I feel like the cast is well-balanced out, no teams have special advantages, and some really interesting teams that I hope to see more of My pre-season favourites are every team, but these are the ones I'm going to support the most (in order of how awesome they are):1. Gary & Will - The type of team I want to see on every season. The title of 'Substitute Teachers' sounds boring, but I think it's nice to see something different, not to mention they are avid cyclists and best friends. They are clearly long time TAR fans, and they seem like good guys. Definitely my #1 team this season 2. Jaymes & James - I was expecting the usual alpha male team which they are, HOWEVER they don't seem the too serious/competitive type, I think they'll be loads of fun to watch! They seem like good guys and I look forward to see how they race!3. Amy & Daniel - Definitely my favourite couple, Amy is obviously an inspiration and it seems as though Daniel balances her out. I'm expecting minor bickering but I won't mind that, because they seem like awesome people!4. James & Abba - Straight away I've predicted they're going to be our humour team this season. They remind me of a city version of Mark & Bopper I look forward to see how they race, they look like loads of fun and even though they're heavy metal heads, they seem like nice guys.5. Caitlin & Brittany - A blonde team I have confidence in! They seem a lot more intelligent than I was expecting, and they claim they're competitive and I think they can avoid the first few eliminations, they have it in them! 6. Natalie & Nadiya - I think these two are going to be the strongest team this season, let me explain. Sibling teams tend to have the better relationships because all their troubles are sorted out in childhood, and it's easier to sort out problems in the long run. Some of the best racers in TAR history are siblings (TAR3 Wonder Twins, Australian Wonder Twins, Nick & Starr, Tammy & Victor) and the fact that these two are TWINS as well, I think they're going to be on the same wavelength. They come across as very competitive, intelligent AND physically strong. Do we have an alpha female team on our hands? I think so7. Trey & Lexi - Is this the youngest couple we've ever had on TAR? CMIIW. I'm afraid of them developing into the token bicker team but i really hope they can stay cool like they are in their bio video

As for the other teams. I do LIKE them, but I don't see myself supporting them in the long run

I hate to bitch and moan about my favorite show... but I really don't like this cast. I know I'm going to be in the minority on this, but I need to voice my opinion. There's only like 3 teams that I really like (Gary & Will, Abbie & Ryan, Amy & Daniel), and I'm indifferent about the rest. I'm really, really hoping that'll change once the show starts and we actually see teams racing, but I really don't like this cast as a whole right now.

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"I defy you to come up with a better name than Seven!""Alright... how 'bout Mug? Mug Costanza!"

I hate to bitch and moan about my favorite show... but I really don't like this cast. I know I'm going to be in the minority on this, but I need to voice my opinion. There's only like 3 teams that I really like (Gary & Will, Abbie & Ryan, Amy & Daniel), and I'm indifferent about the rest. I'm really, really hoping that'll change once the show starts and we actually see teams racing, but I really don't like this cast as a whole right now.

I agree. I thought I was the only one who hated this cast. It seems like there are too many non-competitive teams who are just on the show to produce a show rather than to race well. Just by the intro's, you can tell that about half of the teams are just not going to be competitive teams, they are on the race to get viewers.

I really haven't liked the casting since really Season 16 for seasons with new casts. I liked the cast of Unfinished Business, but that was basically an all star season. For a completely new season, the casting hasn't been good in a while.

In fact, I have thought that some of the recent seasons have had the worst casting in the history of the show(TAR 17 and TAR 19). I thought those two casts were incredibly boring, and really non-competitive with the exception of like three or four teams on each season who you knew were going to make it far in the race.

The Amazing Race is to the point where they basically dictate which teams make it to the final three. Some teams just aren't competitive, and some teams are. A group of 60 year old ladies is going to be eliminated over a pair of alpha-males in their 30's. Its just the way it is, The Amazing Race is catering their casting towards certain teams they decide to cast. I almost feel like they cast a few good teams and then cater the rest of the cast towards those teams making it far in the race by filling out the rest of the spots with non-competitive teams.

I would really like to see a season where every team could possibly win. That hasn't happened in a while, but the Amazing Race was a lot better like that.

Yeah, I agree with the editing which seems very rushed, except the abacus part (which is totally the highlight of this episode). The tasks were okay for me too, though the rappelling task seemed unnecessary for me. It could be replaced with self-driving scene to the airport (just like old TAR that I miss ). The ping pong task wasn't that bad as well as the eating challenge. In my opinion, this premiere was better than the last season.

For the cast, well, I heard many people complain about the casts which are 'stunt'. What do you guys think? I think casts for this season are okay. I love all of the teams so far.

I am actually worried when people complain a lot about TAR USA nowadays. I don't know... With many people think that TAR Australia is better (not that I hate TAR: Australia. I love TAR: Australia too), I'm afraid that someday TAR USA loses its fame.

Anyway, do you think that one of the reasons why this premiere is disappointing for most of people because of its duration? Original TAR is just an hour episode, which is shorter than TAR Australia. Isn't TAR Aus more than an hour episode? Correct me.

Yeah, I agree with the editing which seems very rushed, except the abacus part (which is totally the highlight of this episode). The tasks were okay for me too, though the rappelling task seemed unnecessary for me. It could be replaced with self-driving scene to the airport (just like old TAR that I miss ). The ping pong task wasn't that bad as well as the eating challenge. In my opinion, this premiere was better than the last season.

For the cast, well, I heard many people complain about the casts which are 'stunt'. What do you guys think? I think casts for this season are okay. I love all of the teams so far.

I am actually worried when people complain a lot about TAR USA nowadays. I don't know... With many people think that TAR Australia is better (not that I hate TAR: Australia. I love TAR: Australia too), I'm afraid that someday TAR USA loses its fame.

Anyway, do you think that one of the reasons why this premiere is disappointing for most of people because of its duration? Original TAR is just an hour episode, which is shorter than TAR Australia. Isn't TAR Aus more than an hour episode? Correct me.